Best Haitian New York 2011 - Ambiance Caribbean Restaurant - CLOSED

Evidence of the growing migration of the Haitian community from Flatbush to Canarsie, Ambiance Caribbean Restaurant is not only a rollicking café, but it also offers a proscenium performance space in the back, where wedding receptions, dances, and political rallies are held. The bedrock fare includes fried snapper with onions, a stew of beef and vegetables that goes by the very French name of legumes, and, some evenings, djon-djon rice, made with spindly black mushrooms native to the island. They impart color but virtually no flavor. 9413 Avenue L, Brooklyn, 718-272-1787 (11236)